


Home

by Ailine



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:41:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26782309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ailine/pseuds/Ailine
Summary: "what's a home?"it's a place where you're surrounded by people you lovea place where you belonga place where you're always welcomea place where you can feel safe and warma place he never knew it even existednot until he was saved one day and found himself surrounded by people who welcomed him,loved him and treated him as one of them
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. The auction

"What do you mean it tried to kill itself ?, how did you even allow it to happen" Their boss,pyemul asked in anger 

"S-sorry boss,we came to give him the food and the water and we found him wrapping the chain around his neck"

"I told you million times, never leave it alone" he sighed and pulled his chair backward "is it okay now?"

"Yes boss,we drugged him and locked him in the cage, he resisted at first but hasn't moved sine then"

"So you're saying that it was just laying down since yesterday?"

"Yes, I was watching him, but I think he's starting to get sick"

"Again?it's starting to get frustrating, but I can't get rid of it" he mumbled then stood up to and went to the cabinet and took a bottle of pills

"Another mistake and you're out,meet me at the basement,I need to check on the it" he left his office and went down the stairs until he reached a locked door and opened it with the keys

"Man I hate the basement, this place is so moist and disgusting" he complained while getting down the stairs and reached for the cage in the corner 

The cage was small,old and rusty, it had a space to lay down or sit but not comfortably,the bars weren't that smooth so it would scratch the skin everytime it got in contact with it, 

inside the cage Minho was laying down,his arms and legs were shackled,already having bruises and bleeding because of them,he could no longer realize where or for how long he was there because of what they gave him on a daily basis,he was pale and breathing heavily as he clutched his abdomen and looked up to see the man who put him in all of this since god knows when.

Pyemul opened the cage door and kneeled closer to him,Minho tried to move away but he grabbed his shirt and pulled him harshly out of the cage and started to examine him

Minho shuddered as he felt the cold and rough fingerstips over his neck, because of that the pyemul held his neck and squeezed it

"You're not flinching like that with our customers are you?" He asked and Minho shook his head without making a sound as the last time he spoke it didn't end so well

"Good boy, luckily the chain marks are almost gone by now"he then reached to Minho's head and grabbed his hair "now let's talk, why did you try to kill yourself, huh?"

Minho held his hands to ease his grip on his hair as tears started to fall "I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry,I promise I won't do it again, p-please-"

"But it's not the first time,what about the times you tried to run away? hm?"he grabbed his hair and slammed his head to the bars of the cage so hard the guards were able to hear the ringing "do you want me to remind you with the consequences?"

"N-No please I'm sorry, please I won't do anything again I swear"

"you're lucky today's the auction or else I would've punished you the right way" he let him go and Minho collapsed on the spot, then one of the guards came with a tray that carried glass of water and a spoon

"I brought what you asked boss"

"Took you long enough" he then took the bottle of pills , took three pills and dissolved it in the water,he then looked at Minho with a smirk"hey Minho aren't you thirsty?"

"N-No I'm not" he tried to gather his strength and push himself backwards as fear got a hold of his limbs but pyemul held his face and pulled him closer

"Stop lying,you didn't drink anything since yesterday" he said as he forced the glass through his mouth

Minho closed his lips and squeezed his eyes shut as he covered his mouth and tried to push him away but Minho was weaker then him

He forced Minho's mouth open and poured the water into his mouth as he closed his nose then he closed his mouth to avoid him from spitting what's left throwing up.

Minho's movements became slower and weaker,it then transformed to twitches until it stopped completely 

"That wasn't hard was it?"Pyemul said as he started to examine Minho's arms and legs "your consciousness will fade in no time, you must stay like that at least until the auction time"

Minho tried to suppress his whimpers as the man pressed on his cuts and bruises and pulled his shackles

"Everything is okay,all we need is fake skin to cover the nails and cuts and you'll be as good as new" pyemul then stood up and kicked Minho in the stomach "consider this as a punishment for trying to oppose me, sweet dreams"

Minho's eyes started to close as he watched the man leaving the room, then a needle pierced through his arm to inject him with antibiotics and antipyretics and was pulled back to the cage 

The next time Minho opened his eyes was when he was being transferred to the auction site, his vision was foggy blurry and everything was mixed in his brain and his senses were numb because of the drugs they injected him when he was unconscious

His arms and legs were covered with a material to hide the bruises so he would look pleasant for guests but the shackles were still here so he won't run away

The car then stopped and the trunk was opened to take him out

"C'mon get out" the guard said and pulled Minho out and pushed him inside the building as Minho stumbled on the way

He was used to the process by this point, he'd sit there with the other goods and wait for his turn, then he'll come to the stage as the buyers state his price, then he'll leave with whoever bought him for the rest of the day or the rest of the week,depends on who took him

"It's your turn,come here"the guard opened the door and grabbed him by his shackles to the backstage and waited until he heard the buzzer of an item being sold

"And now moving to the last item" that was his queue to enter, he walked to the stage with heavy steps while still feeling woozy,he then stood under the light as the buyers looked at him.

"The price start at five hundred thousands,who adds?" The man said as he hit the hammer on the table and Minho almost winced at the sound

"Five hundred and fifty"a woman started

"Five and fifty,anyone adds?"

"Six hundred" a man added

"Anyone adds?"

"Six And twenty two" the numbers kept increasing as Minho was struggling not to show any painful expression since his brain was mixing and blurring everything around him,or else he'll have to suffer a worse hell if the deal didn't complete, suddenly someone raised his sound and made the hall silent

"Three millions" the man said as he stood up,everyone was in shock even Minho, nobody raised it over the million and this guy is tripling it

"Th-three millions? Are you sure mr.bang?"

"Completely"he then climbed the stage to Minho and hung his jacket on his shoulder as he whispered to his ear "You look cold, wear this"

"Three and-"another one talked but he cut her

"Four millions,I won't hesitate to pay more" he said while still standing on the stage "he'll be mine"

"Anyone adds?" Everyone was silent as Minho looked at the blurry image of the stranger in curiosity while holding on the jacket,something about him was different than the others clients.

"Going once" the auctioneer raised one finger

"Going twice" he raised the second finger "anybody wants to add?"nobody said anything 

"Sold! It goes to mr.bang" the man said as he hit the hammer and people started to leave and some guards took Minho out of the room

"Where are you taking him? He's coming with me right now"

"Don't worry we'll just prepare him" the pyemul said to him as he shook his hand "the name is lee pyemul and I'm minho's owner and the organizer of this auction"

"Nice to meet you"

"The pleasure is mine,would you like to come with us to finish everything?"

"No problem,I'll just go to bring the cash" 

Chan sat in on the sofa with a black bag near him while negotiating with the man

"So, for how long do you want it?" Pyemul said as he leaned closer 

"It?"

"Minho,the one you bought earlier"

"So that's his name?"

"Please focus with me sir,for how long do you want him?"

"I want him to be mine,and by that I mean forever"

"Mr.bang I think you misunderstood,it's not for full ownership,it's also really feral and uncontrollable I can give you something better you like if you want to-"

"No, I want him in particular"

"But sir I can't sell him completely to you"

"I'll give you ten times what I offered earlier"

"No matter how you rise it the answer is still no, the request on it is big already,I can't break their trust"

"You know, I don't like it when people say no to me" Chan took the bag and placed it in front of him "I'll give you everything inside it if you give him to me" Chan then opened the bag and revealed the stacks of money and pyemul gulped

"Look mr.pyemul" Chan continued "I know that you were going to sell him sooner or later, so why not make it sooner and finish everything now?"

"As you wish,he's all yours now"pyemul shook Chan's hand and pressed the call button as started to count the money "bring it here"

After ten minutes the guard brought Minho to the room and were about to place a chain on his neck but Chan stopped them

"What are you doing?"

"Mr.bang it's just a normal procedure so it won't run away"

"It's not necessary,please remove his shackles too,it must be painful"

"Sir are you sure?"the guard looked at him in disbelief 

"Yes it won't be necessary" Chan then turned to Minho and placed a hand on his shoulder as he asked gently "will you run away?"Chan asked but Minho didn't have anymore power left in his body so he collapsed in Chan's arms as his breaths quickened 

"I apologize to you mr.bang, Minho get a hold of yourself"pyemul said and one of the guards kicked Minho on his back as Minho squealed in pain 

"Hey hey what's wrong with you? Stop hurting him" Chan yelled as he made Minho sit on the couch "Can't you see he's sick?"

"I'm sorry mr.bang but it's just being disrespectful"

"It wasn't necessary,just give me the papers so I can confirm the buying"

"Here it is"pyemul took the papers and the pen "sign here and he's all yours"

Chan signed all the papers and shook pyemul's hand "it was pleasure dealing with you"

"The pleasure was mine, I apologize for my guards' behavior"

"I also have to apologize since I lost my temper there"

"do want us to deliver it to you?"

"No need, I'll take him with me now" Chan said as he scooped Minho in his arm and left the building to his car

He opened the door of the backseat and laid Minho on it as he covered him with the jacket "try to get some rest, everything will be okay from now on"

"You're late" seungmin said to Chan as he sat on the driver's seat

"sorry,thanks for the help by the way"Chan turned on the car and took off the earphones he was wearing all the time inside 

"No problem,just please let's go back quickly,I'm tired" seungmin said and turned to look at the backseat "so you think the search is over?"

"I hope so, I'm 85% positive"

"That's a good percentage,all we need to do is to make changbin check on him"

"Let's deal with his sickness first"

The mood in the car kept switching between comfortable silence and calm talks until Minho restored a small part of his consciousness and heard part of their talk

"Jisung hasn't answered yet?" Chan asked seungmin, his eyes still fixed on the road

"Not yet"

"But you know,I'm sure the guys will get excited when they meet him"

"Let me just talk to Felix so he can prepare the bed"

With those words a tear left minho's eye, believing that his life will never get better and he'll suffer till the end of it,his eyes then closed back in agony and his hand let go of the jacket


	2. The guest

"They're late"Jisung looked at the clock on the wall "what takes them so long?"

"They went to a private auction in the black market, what do you expect?" hyunjin answered as he changed the channels"also why are you suddenly awake?" 

"Oh Felix woke me up, he said that he needs to prepare the additional bed or something,guess I'm finally getting a roommate"Jisung shrugged "I'll miss the calm atmosphere"

"So it worked?"

"I think so"

"But I still can't believe that Chan chose seungmin over me,ME"hyunjin said loudly and stood up"I'm the tamer and not him"

"Too bad he's not dealing with dragons"

"Jisung I'm being serious"

"Me too,and let's be honest,seungmin is more reliable than you in these situations,most likely you'll cry in fear if they stared at you"

"Well-" hyunjin stuttered "you got a point"

"Right? Come sit down and watch tv with me"

"JISUNG" changbin yelled as he got downstairs

"In the living room"Jisung shouted back and changbin entered the room

"What are you doing? Come and help me"

"With what?"

"Are you serious? check your phone"changbin pointed at Jisung's phone and Jisung looked at it,there was a ton of messing calls from both seungmin and Chan,then seungmin called and Jisung gulped before answering 

"Good evening?"

"Well it's more of a good morning since it's almost four am"

"Did it really take that long?"

"Yeah we spent a good time negotiating since the owner didn't want to sell him in the first place,thank god we had additional cash on us"

"Give me that stupid phone" Chan yanked the phone out of seungmin's hand "why aren't you answering?"

"Uhhhhh,silent mode?" Jisung never heard a louder sigh in his life

"Didn't Felix tell you anything?"

"No? What was I supposed to do?"

"What are you talking about?I literally told you to bring water from the stream like an hour ago" Felix said from behind him and both him and hyunjin jumped in fear

"As you heard, we need water from the stream,also bring parts of the sacred plants" Chan said as he parked the car

"But going there will take an hour"

"That's why I told you to do it an hour ago" Chan closed the door of the car and gave the phone back to seungmin 

"So can someone open the door for us? Thank you" seungmin said as he hung up

"I'll go wear my shoes,someone open the door"Jisung said as he left the room

"In this hour?, in pajamas?"Felix looked at him

"Yeah it's nothing serious,and hyunjin is coming with me"

"Why am I suddenly part of the process?" Hyunjin followed him to his room

"Because I can't go there at this time without help" Jisung was wearing his jacket and heard loud banging on the door so he yelled "and can someone open the goddamn door?"

"I'll go" hyunjin came down and ran to open the door and get his boots from the shoe closet, he opened the door and was met with Chan carrying unconscious minho in his arms

"Step out of the way,where's changbin?" Chan said as he pushed through the door and headed to the second floor

"He's in the kitchen with Felix, but what happened to him?"

"He collapsed back there and has a fever,apparently he's sick because of the bad conditions they kept him in"seungmin answered as he entered the house and hung up his coat "where are you going by the way?"

"I'm going with Jisung to the stream"

"He hasn't gone yet?"

"I'm leaving now"Jisung slid down the stairs and wore his boots "but didn't the auctioneer say that he was in a good state?that's the opposite of good"

"Let me explain you something" seungmin lifted his finger "in these dark places,good means usable with slight injuries ,and most likely he was 'in a good state' when they announced the auction week ago"he quoted 

"Are you sure that he's the right guy?" Changbin said as he left the kitchen 

"Most likely yes since the other goods were animals and non living things,also Chan wants you upstairs,he said that he needs immediate care"

"I guess it's really bad then" He filled a pot of water and put it on the stove and went to Jisung's room "Felix bring my tools from our room and fetch me some warm towels"

"Roger"

"And I'll leave now"Jisung answered as he opened the door "I'll try to go back sooner"

"Hurry up and be careful"

"We will"

"So mind you telling me what happened there?"changbin entered the room as Chan was laying Minho on the bed

"We suffered, his owner said he's only for rent and that the request on him is huge"

"How much you paid?"

"A lot,years of studying alchemy really pay off"

"Lucky you, So what's his name? Don't tell me you didn't ask"

"I think it's Minho? That's what his owner called him"

"I got what you told me" Felix dashed in with a tool kit and a set of clean towels that were put on the heater

"I put a pot of water on the stove with some things in it,if it boiled bring it here and come to help me"

"Yes sir" Felix then ran went down the stair

"Chan I need you to make him sit, I also don't think I can use painkillers in his state so be prepared"

"Won't it be hard for him"Chan asked in concern

"Don't worry I'll be gentle as much as I could"changbin answered as he rolled up his sleeves "can you help me take off his shirt so I can check on him throughly"

"Sure" Chan hauled Minho in a sitting position and changbin unbuttoned his shirt,suddenly Minho started to whimper as his face showed discomfort 

"Is he in pain?" Chan turned to changbin 

"Not really sure,let me just take it off" changbin said as he lowered minho's shirt and nearly cursed at what he saw,chan didn't stand the view and stepped back in shock

"How?" Chan asked in a shaky voice

"You said he was being sold for joy but this is just overboard, and we didn't even look at his arms and legs"

"Got the pot"Felix said as he entered and gasped in fear,Minho's ribs were prominent and was covered with wounds and burns and bruises were scattered across his body along with a huge scar across his back and a bite scar on his collar 

"Great that you came, close the door and come to help me" changbin instructed and Felix obeyed as chan sat on Jisung's bed looking at them

Felix started to wet the towels and wiped minho's body to clean it from sweat and dirt and changbin took the scissor to remove the layer that covered his arms, through all of this Minho was breathing heavily and whining while trying to push them away and Felix was trying to comfort him

"Hold him for a bit, I'll try to hypnotize him" changbin said to Felix and as his eyes glew up

"Okay" Felix then held Minho from the back and opened his eyes by force as changbin hovered his palm on his face, then Minho stopped resisting and Felix laid him down 

"That's better, now we can work in piece" changbin went back on removing the fake skin layer and hissed at the view of the bruises that were laying underneath, he removed everything with a wet towel then turned to Chan and Felix "can you two leave? And when Jisung finishes with his weird medicine tell him to come up"

"Why do you want us to leave so suddenly?" Chan stood up as he asked him

"I need to focus while examining him,also his wounds are on another level and I don't want any uncomfortable situations here, so leave and close the door behind you"

"If you got in any trouble just call my name" Felix said to his as he left 

"You know I won't need it"changbin then closed the door, licked his fangs and turned Minho to realize that his eyes were slightly open and were looking at him

"You broke from the spell?that's impressive" he took a seat next to Minho and took his wrist to bite it as his eyes flew up again"I just need a drop,Don't worry you won't feel a thing,just close your eyes and go back to sleep"

"I'm home"Jisung opened the door with the materials in his hands and headed to the kitchen "I'm working on the potion,Don't bother me for the next half hour"

"It's not like we want to anyway" hyunjin replied to him and went to the living room to be met with a half dead seungmin, a puffy and sleepy Felix and a workaholic Chan 

"What are you doing?"hyunjin sat next to chan who was writing something on his tablet

"Some research"

"About what?"

"That thing, I'm also writing some things to do for the next few days"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"What?"

"Why you insisted on bringing him in particular?you don't usually go for a thing unless you're 100 sure"

"I've seen it in his eyes, I just couldn't ignore it"

"So everything might go wrong and it might not be him?"

"Maybe, but I have a good feeling about it"

"I have another question, you said you saw it in his eyes but your eyesight is bad, how could you see it?"

"Yeah he practically gambled when you think about it" seungmin commented as he was fighting sleep on the couch

"He was the only one there, it can't be anyone else"

"But what if it was one of the audience?" Felix said as he came closer to Chan and hugged him "the radar is not that accurate after all"

"Please don't say that, do you know how much I struggled to end in the VIP list of customers?"

"Well the storage room says it all"hyunjin answered him "but some of these things are good, like that fur coat"

"And other things just needs to be sold in a garage sale"seungmin said and turned to Chan "but imagine if the person we're searching for was Pyemeul and not Minho,those two were always together after all"

"Then I'll explode his head,task or not I won't handle his crap"

"Wow you really hate him" Felix said to Chan as he played with a bunch of feathers

"Well that dude is an ass" seungmin stretched and fixed his posture "even his name means trash"

"What are you guys doing? And why jisung's room is locked?"jeongin asked as he sleepily entered the living room in his uniform

"Hi innie, why are you awake?" Hyunjin greeted him

"School" he rubbed his eyes with his fist and yawned "Don't you want to sleep?,you've been awake all night"

"Awww innie come here" hyunjin coed and pulled jeongin to a hug "guess what,Our search is almost close to end"

"Hmmm? How?"jeongin looked up to Chan

"Well we brought him here,but not sure if he's the one"

"So if he's not not the one, will he stay?"

"I don't know innie, I might just give up by now,after all the task is nearly impossible"chan said while ruffling jeongin's hair "now go prepare yourself, I'll drive you there"

"Mmmmm okay, hyunjin let me go"

"Nooooooo,stay with me"

"Hyunjin go to sleep,you're acting like a drunk uncle" seungmin said as he went to his room

"And Felix here also fell asleep,I'll take him to his room then change this turtleneck to something more comfortable,go eat something untill I'm done"chan said as he carried Felix and went to his room 

"Morning jeongin, How was your night?" Jisung greeted him as he turned off the stove and took the kettle to cool it down

"Not bad, I managed to get some sleep" jeongin answered as poured the cereals "can you give me the milk from the fridge" 

"Here you go"

"Thanks" jeongin poured the milk and started to eat and pointed at the kettle "what is this?"

"Green night potion, it's for the new guy"

"Is his situation bad?"

"I just saw him when I left, he was unconscious and changbin told me he had a fever"

"So changbin was with him upstairs the whole time?"

"With Felix and chan,but then he told them he needs some privacy"

"So he did it"

"He surely did it,that's changbin we're talking about, now go wear your shoes"

"I don't want to go to school"

"We've all been here bud, one year and you're free"

"But chan said he wants to send me to university"

"And you'll go there like everybody else,this is an educated household" chan said as he entered the kitchen to take a mug of coffee but Jisung stopped him

"No,it won't effect you immediately Anyways and will give you a headache"

"How do you expect me to stay awake? I have things to attend to"

"Take this in one gulp"he handed him a small pinkish bottle and chan drank it while squeezing his eyes

"Thanks"

"You're welcome"

"C'mon jeongin you'll be late"

"Bye Jisung"

"Goodbye" Jisung waved goodbye and headed to the red liquid in the kettle, which had a gelatinous texture

"Solidified already? Let's start" he took the knife to cut squares in the gelatin and poured it in the mortar,he then added some other herbs and started grinding them gently until transformed into something that looks like ointment

"Shit I forgot the sliverdust" he said as he ran to his room to grab the last few ingredients, he tried to open the door but it was locked

"Get out"

"Changbin it's my room,open the door"

"I'm busy come back later"

"I just need something from inside to finish the potion"

"Do you mean the weird medicine"

"It's not a weird medicine, it's a potion"

"keep saying that bud,What do you want?"Changbin said after a short pause

"Silverdust and the torch, also the blueish flask and an empty one from the cabinet above my study"

"Just a minute" 

Jisung waited for few seconds until Changbin opened the door and handed him the things

"I'll come back in ten minutes and the potion is supposed to be ready by then, don't lock the door"

"Bring the cold packs and the patches with you"

"Okay"Jisung took the stuff and headed back to the kitchen as he prayed for the potion to not be ruined

He sighed in relief when he found that everything is still good and sprinkled some of the dust, poured a shiny blue liquid from the blue flask and ignited it, after waiting for few moments the potion became liquid and changed its colour to sparkly green

"Great job Han Jisung you outdid yourself again" he said as he patted himself and poured the potion in the empty flask and put it in the tray along with the packs and patches, he climbed the stairs and and found changbin leaving the room

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to bring a sweater,could you watch him for me?"

"If you want me to"

"I'll be back in a minute" 

"I'll watch him until you come back" Jisung said to changbin as he left and sat beside Minho, he was sleeping and wrapped with bandages, his breaths became slower and more stable but his face showed expressions of pain, Jisung walked closer to fix the bed but he stopped at some moment 

"What are you staring at?" Changbin said as he entered the room

"What exactly happened to him?" Jisung asked as he held minho's hand

"A lot,people in those places don't have mercy"

"But for them to take off his nails?"

"Probably to prevent him from fighting back or running away,if you look at his feet you'll see parts of his heals were chopped off,maybe that's why they tightened the shackles so much so it won't slip"changbin answered as he made Minho wear the sweater "I wonder for how long he had to endure all of this"

"So is he okay now?"

"Hard to tell,he's also malnourished and dehydrated, I tried to make him drink water but I struggled to do it"

"So there's no way we could give him the potion?"

"Well you have to find a way to do that without hurting him, he literally shuts his mouth whenever anything touching his lips"

Jisung stood up while tapping his chin with his finger,he then took the flask and opened its lid"I want to try something,don't judge me"

"I'm the one who decides if I should judge you or not" Changbin then sat on jisungs bed and crossed his legs and arms "show me what you'll do"

"You'll regret it" jisung muttered as he poured the flask's content in his mouth, he then leaned closer to Minho and slightly lifted his head to prevent him from choking and connected their lips to transfer the potion

After almost five minutes Minho swallowed everything and jisung moved back and wiped his lips as he turned to look at Changbin, who's mouth was in gape 

"I should've recorded this"Changbin said in deadpan tone

"Stop staring"jisung yelled as he hit Changbin with his pillow "it's embarrassing"

"You could've thought of better options"

"That was the only one I had in mind"

"That proves that your mind is weird"

"You know that I'm a weird one"

"You surely are" Changbin said as he leaned back to the wall behind him "but he looks more relaxed now"

"Never underestimate the power of my potions"

"Weird medicines"

"Okay fine weird medicines" jisung said as he huffed and looked down"Hey changbin, If he wasn't the one What will we do?"

"I don't know,we'll either send him back or make him move away"

"So staying here isn't an option?"

"Of course not,just think of it, only Chan here is human, if he woke up and found himself in such situation he'll go crazy and tell everybody he meets"

"You didn't taste his blood?"

"I did but because of the drugs it tasted weird, I'm waiting for your medicine to work and clean his body from toxins"

"You know" jisung looked up at the seiling as he played with his bangs "when I was trying to make him drink the potion I sensed something weird for a split second"

"You have a crush on him?"

"Let me finish talking"

"Okay go on"

"it was obvious that it's not ordinary but it was familiar,and his core was radiating it strongly"

"So you mean that-" Changbin stood up in realization and looked at jisung

"Yup" he fixed his position "even he might not know it because he looks ordinary, but the cores never lie"

Jisung then looked at Minho and pointed at him "he's not a human"


	4. Conflict

It's been six days and Minho hasn't woken up, during this time Changbin and jisung were taking turns in looking after him,from changing bandages to wiping sweat

"So how's he today?" Seungmin asked Changbin as he entered the room

"Still unconscious,he also almost threw up when I tried to feed him,which is good since it means that his reflexes is going back to normal" Changbin said as he put the bag of supplies on the desk and jumped on his bed "tell hyunjin I used one of his new syringes"

"Aren't those syringes used for feeding kittens?"

"Well I can't give him big amounts of food and solid is not an option so these are a great solution"

"Then good luck dealing with him"

"By the way what are you doing in my room?"Changbin looked at him with annoyance

"The WiFi here is stronger than the other places in the house,plus Felix's bed is more comfortable"

"Get out,I want to sleep"

"Why are you so salty today? It's only the two of us in the house"

"I'm always salty,now leave"

"But you're more salty than usual,did something happen?"

"It's because I didn't sleep in two days, don't bother me until everybody arrives,and don't go to minho"

"Why's that?"

"Just in case"

"In case of what? I got berserk?"

"Nobody is allowed inside without supervision except for jisung since it's his room,it's not about you only"

"I'll go sit outside"seungmin stood up and left the room,stopping the conversation from going further

"I'm warning you"

"Okay okay" seungmin closed the door and went to jisung's room, obviously ignoring Changbin's warnings,he opened the door and took a seat beside the bed Minho was sleeping at,it was the first time he was able to see him clearly since it was dark and he was disheveled in the first time

Minho's face was still thin but it restored some color,his expressions became relaxed a little but discomfort was still shown on his face, seungmin stared at the sleeping male with blank expressions as he wrapped himself with the blanket since he felt cold

Seungmin fiddled with the bandages wrapped around Minho's neck, because of that the bandages got loosened a little and slightly revealed the end of the serial number tattooed on the back of his neck

Seungmin's thumb brushed through the last digit and sighed as he recognised the bad quality ink

"It's been more than five years for you,right?"seungmin said in a whisper as he removed his hand and wrapped the blanket more around himself,not expecting Minho to answer

"Sometimes I ask myself,is everything happening because we're not humans,or because we were born in the wrong situations"seungmin asked as he was starting to feel sleepy

"Maybe if we were humans,we could've lived more normally,not being taken advantage of us or our specialties,or being tortured for others joy"seungmin said as he clutched his own bicep"but dreams would still be dreams, and what's done is done"

After fifteen minutes of silence Seungmin stood up to leave the room as he felt extremely sleepy and was afraid his instincts would take advantage of him

"See you later, maybe when you wake up" seungmin closed the door and walked to the living room, he stumbled on his way downstairs and fell on the sofa as he arrived there

"Huh? That's weird,why am I.............this............tired?" Seungmin asked himself as darkness surrounded him and started to feel lighter,he tried to pull himself to a sitting position but his hands betrayed him

"N-No way................a........a spell?" He widened his eyes with the realisation before his eyes closed and surrendered to the land of dreams

"Wake up" seungmin heard a voice in the darkness as a hard hand grabbed him harshly

"N-No,S-stop"seungmin said in a weak voice as he tried to push the hand away

"Didn't you hear me you stupid dog?,I said Wake up,or do you want another punishment?" the voice started to get angrier and the hands grabbing him became harsher as it reached to his neck

"P-please don't" seungmin was shaking at this point as he curled into a ball and tried to hide his head in his arms

"I'M DONE WITH YOU,TAKE HIM TO THE ROOM"the voice exploded in anger and the hands became stronger and felt as it was choking him

"Stop" seungmin yelled as he jolted awake and grabbed the hand that was holding him as he breathed rapidly,after few seconds he blinked few times and recognised the hand owner

"F-Felix?" He looked at him as Felix showed expressions of surprise and looked around "I'm-I'm still home?"

"You never left in the first place"Felix answered him as he loosened Seungmin's grip on his hand "what happened? you've been shaking and crying in your sleep for the last five minutes"

"Hmm?" Seungmin touched his cheek and felt a stream of water and wiped it"weird,why didn't you wake me up?"

"I've been trying but you didn't respond,what did you dream to react like this?"

"I......"he paused for a moment "I don't remember"

"Really?that looked really scary though"Felix then sat beside seungmin and leaned closer to him "but maybe it's good that you can't remember"

"What are you doing?"seungmin moved back

"I'm trying to give you a hug,to feel a bit easier"

"Do I look like I need one?"

"Yes you do"

"No I'm not"seungmin said as struggled to push him away "and stop touching me"

"I can't help it"Felix hugged seungmin and wrapped his legs around him like a koala "you're just so soft and fluffy"

"Pull away you cuddle bug"seungmin to move him away but Felix snuggled more into his neck

"Soft.....and.......fluffy"Felix said softly as he tightened the hug, seungmin couldn't help but sigh in defeat as the layed down on the sofa and hugged him back

"Did Changbin"Felix yawned "........did Changbin allow you to go inside jisung's room?"

"How did you-"

"ivy and.......... and lavender"Felix answered him and started speaking weirdly"jisung's.......potion.......sleep"

Seungmin stayed silent for a moment when he realised why he fell asleep a while ago and why he fell asleep"Don't tell Changbin"

Felix giggled and closed his eyes as he started to sleep"I won't"

Seungmin then closed his eyes and slept again,this time he felt safer in Felix's arms as the both cuddled in their sleep 

Unfortunately the peaceful sleep ended after an hour or so when two noisy boys came barging in the house while complaining about their day

"Vet school is living nightmare"hyunjin yelled at the top of his lungs as he busted the door open "I swear to god if I had to shove my hand into something I'm not supposed to even touch again I will scream"

"Look at you,acting as if it's the end of the world"jisung replied as he entered after him "aren't you supposed to be used to it by now?"

"Hell no,today was my first time"hyunjin yelled dramatically and held jisungs face "I put those hands in a cow's mouth, A COW'S MOUTH,and do you know what's worse,IM DOING IT FOR ANOTHER THREE MONTHS"

"You did wash them before touching me didn't you?"

"For at least ten times,the problem is today was supposed to be the easy day"

"Well we told you not to take anything livestock related but no, because 'how hard can it possibly be?'" jisung mocked him

"Please shut up, pharmacy is ten times easier than this"hyunjin took off his jacket and untied his hair as he went to the kitchen

"Yeah because it's really fun to analyse the feces looking for parasite eggs" jisung opened a bottle of water and drank it in one gulp "let alone bugs and plant samples"

"What kind of disgusting stuff are these two talking about?" Felix groggily asked as he opened his eyes and looked up to see that Chan was taking. Photos of them while sleeping

"Hey lixie,how was your nap?"Chan asked him with a smile

"Mmmmfine"Felix answered sluggishly as he tried to sit but seungmin pulled him back with a little whine

"That's rare,you never see seungmin this clingy"

"I think it's just because sleeping,he won't remember anything after he wakes up

"I have my phone as a proof" Chan waved his phone and sat on the other couch in the room "jeongin really takes his time today"

"He said he has additional classes or something?he might go back after an hour or so"

"Be quieeeeet,I want to sleep more" seungmin said to him 

"Okay okay"Felix apologized and patted his head

"Anyways, I'll go eat something,and maybe cook dinner?I'm planning to do something with so much preperation" Chan stood and headed to the kitchen

"Goodbye"Felix waved at him and turned to seungmin "hey seungminni,wake up, it's already 3pm"

"Noooo, I want to sleep more"

"C'mon open your eyes, you've slept enough"

"Can't we wait until dinner?"

Before Felix could say anything jisung came out of the kitchen yelling as he climbed up the stairs

"Seo Changbin if I see you in my room today I'll choke you"

"There's a lot of anger in the house today"seungmin commented as he closed his eyes again"wake me up when the dinner is ready"

Jisung entered his room to find nobody is inside except for Minho who was still asleep,he sighed as he closed the door and sat on his desk, revising what he took today even though he didn't like it

After an hour or so, jisung started to hear Minho's breaths became heavy and shaky, jisung went to him to sense his forehead and frowned when he didn't feel much of a heat so he went to Changbin for help

"Trouble in breathing you say?"Changbin asked as he leaned on his doorstep and jisung nodded

"His temperature is not that high though,so I don't know if it's an infection"

Changbin hummed and tapped his chin and grabbed his bag,to check up on him "I think we need to recheck the bandages,the wounds might be infected"

Changbin enterted the room and started checking on Minho,he checked his pulse, breathing and many other things and frowned as he turned to jisung

"You know the routine right?"Changbin asked him

"Of treating wounds?yes I do" 

"And what about giving shots?"

"Seriously hyung?I gave you a shot not long time ago"

"Okay then" Changbin gave him his bag and first aid kit "treat him untill I go back,I need to get the nebuliser,also there's a blue vial in the bag,give it to him"

"The nebu what?"jisung looked at him in confusion as he left

"The thing I used when Felix got sick"

"Oh that thing"jisung turned to minho as Changbin left the room and took a deep breath as he took Minho's hand to treat it

He tried to remove the gauze gently but the dried up blood made the gauze stick to his wrist like glue so jisung poured some water to loosen up before pulling it

Minho scrunched his face and groaned in pain as jisung removed the bandage but he couldn't stop

"I'm sorry"he apologized as he pulled the bandages as fast as he could, which made Minho almost scream

Jisung didn't know what to first when he looked at the wound, saying it was bad was an understatement, because of the shackles the tissues were damaged to a deep level and pus was coming,the skin around was swollen and irritated and jisung almost swore he was able to see the flesh

"Ugh Changbin where are you?"jisung scratched his head in frustration as he wiped the pus as gently as he could and poured more water on the wound, after few minutes of wiping and cleaning he dabbed the area with antiseptic and applied his potion on the wound before wrapping the gauze around it and moving to the next hand

He finished with the hands and waited for Changbin to comeback because he didn't have courage to look at his feet knowing it's far more worse than his hands,so he took one of the vials Changbin told him about,broke it and filled the serynge with it

He tapped on the serynge few times to remove the air bubbles and gave it to Minho in the muscles and pulled back with a huff

"He's surely taking his time"jisung mumbled as he stared at the door when Changbin came in with many stuff

"Took you long enough"jisung looked at him

"I know,I was preparing the dose"Changbin basically ignored him as he placed the nebuliser on the table and injected the dose inside it,he then plugged it and placed the mask on Minho's mouth

"That should stabilise his breathing" Changbin stood up and dusted his hands

"Uhhh..... Changbin?"jisung hesitantly asked him

"What?"

"Could you treat the wounds on his feet? I'm scared to even look at it"

"I would love that,but you said to stay out of your room"Changbin smirked as he left the room and waved at him"buh bye,good luck buddy"

"You annoying bastart"jisung yelled and threw his book Changbin who laughed on his way out and turned to Minho as his expressions turned soft

"Alright let's do what we should do, sorry in advance if it was painful, please don't kick me" jisung grabbed the tools and started to cut the gauze

As expected,it was much worse with blisters all around his feet and , jisung lost count how many times he thanked god that he wasn't there when Minho arrived because he couldn't imagine how bad it was,as he was wrapping bandages for he stopped midway when he noticed holes in his ankle joint

"Are those......nail holes?"jisung tried to look closer but he backed when Minho's foot flinched so he wrapped it after adding more anticeptic and stood up

"Okie now,back to studying" he pulled his chair and sat in front of the desk to continue what he stopped doing half an hour ago, although the sound of the nebuliser was a bit annoying and jisung had to make sure that he had to check that the breathing mask was fixed on his mouth and nose he managed to organise a good amount of his lectures

"Hi hanni" Chan peaked from from the door "you locked yourself inside for two hours now"

"That long?"

"Were you really engrossed in studying?I thought you hated it"Chan leaned on the desk "also how are you doing? You're not affect by the sleep dust aren't you?"

"I had no other choice but finish everything"jisung stretched "and no, it's my potion I can't get affected by it"

"Okay then get downstairs, dinner is ready"Chan said to him as he closed the door

"In a minute"jisung stretched and tidied his desk then went to Minho to check on him and remove the gas mask since the dose was over

Jisung then closed the door and slid down the stairs, falling on jeongin in process

"Hey there innie, didn't see you there,nice catching by the way"

"Falling on me,doesn't count as catching hyung,stand up you're squashing me"jeongin said as he hit him constantly

"Oh right I forgot"jisung stood up and helped jeongin "so how was additional classes"

"Horrible"

"As usual"jisung chuckled as jeongin hit his arm and both went to dinner table

"And let me tell you, seungmin was really snuggly and refused to let me go"Felix said as he swallowed his food "he even whined like a little puppy"

"Stop making things up"

"I'm not making things up, Chan hyung can confirm it"

"Chan hyung?"seungmin looked at him in disbelief and the guy almost choked

"Don't look at me like that seungmin"

"What do you have on your phone?"

"Uhhh,stuff?"

"Show me"

"C'mon seungmin just let go"hyunjin commented from the other side of the table

"Shut up hyunjin"

"You're not gonna eat?"jisung asked him

"I don't have the appetite"

"Hwang Hyunjin,not having the appetite?in which world we're living?" Changbin mocked and received flying food from hyunjin

"Experience what I did today and then talk to me" hyunjin point his fork at him

"Chill dude"jisung lowered hyunjin's fork "what will happen to you when you go to the other side?"

"Can you not talk about this stuff at the table?some people are trying to eat here"jeongin said to them and everyone laughed, after dinner Chan gathered them all in the living room to discuss

"Alright everyone,time to talk about the thing we've been avoiding since the beginning of the week"

"Who's going to clean the bathroom after we shower this weekend"jisung raised his hand

"Hell no jisung" hyunjin yelled at him "this subject is postponed until after tomorrow"

"Focus you two"Changbin folded his legs and pointed up "we're talking about the sleeping beauty upstairs"

"Anyways"Chan started talking "appearently the chances of our search being over has risen to 90% now,since it was confirmed that Minho is not a human"

"So so he's staying with us?"jeongin asked

"Most likely yes"hyunjin shrugged "it depends on him after all"

"We also need to know if he's 'the one' " seungmin quoted "we also need him to wake up first

"That's why we're gathered now"Chan clapped and got into the topic "since there's a high chance he'll be defensive,I made a few rules"

"Another set of rules?"Felix complained

"Come on Felix,It's not like we listen to them anyways" hyunjin said to Felix

"He's kinda right"seungmin commented

"Why don't we shut up and listen?"jisung suggested

"Okay then,Rule number one,no sudden affection and no hugs out of nowhere, Felix I'm talking to you" Chan pointed and Felix whined

"But hugs make people feel more welcomed"

"Not in his state,even touching can startle him" Changbin said to Felix

"Thank you for explaining, and legs off the table"

"No problem" he folded his arms and lowered his legs "so rule number two?"

"No wild spells around, this is actually a normal rule but since you guys ignore it all the time I have to say it again to avoid conflict for at least a week until we sort things out"

"That's manageable"jisung straightened his sitting pose "is there anything else?"

"One Last rule,If you can't control your instincts,stay away"

"Isn't that a bit extreme?"hyunjin argued "you're talking as we're animals that can't control their hunger"

"No I don't mean it like that"

"What do you mean then?"seungmin frowned

"You know"Chan started to get nervous "if he started to get aggressive, it's better to stay away to not trigger your fighting instincts"

"Well that was a better explanation, thank you"hyunjin sarcastically replied to him

"Would you two stop"Changbin yelled at both seungmin and hyunjin "or do you want me to tell you the REAL reason we have this rule"

"That was eight years ago" seungmin argued

"But we can't take risks,and the work of a lifetime won't be wasted because SOME IDIOTS who have low self control"Chan raised his voice,and after few minutes of high tension,he realised his mistake

"I'll leave to my room"hyunjin quietly said as he ran out of the room but Chan held his hand

"Hyunjin wait-"

"Let go of me"hyunjin pulled away as his eyes turned completely black with irises as white as snow and ran to his room

Chan wanted to follow him but decided not to so he slumped on the sofa and sighed when noticed that seungmin left too

"We messed up"Changbin closed his eyes and laid his head back

"Correction,YOU Messed up" Felix pointed at the older two

"I'll go check on hyunjin" jeongin got up to go to his and hyunjin's shared room and knocked the door

"Go away"hyunjin said to him from inside,he was sitting in his bed with a wooden box near him, hugging a worn out dog plush

"Hyunjin it's me jeongin,open the door"

"Leave innie, I want to be alone"

"Hyunjin please open the door and talk to me" 

"Innie please,I don't want to see anyone right now"

"You know they didn't mean it,it was just a general rule and I know that-"jeongin couldn't complete his words when hyunjin cut him

"JEONGIN I TOLD TO LEAVE ME ALONE"

jeongin didn't know what to do so he sat in front of the door "just.........don't hurt yourself......okay?"

Hyunjin didn't respond to that,he just hugged the plush tighter and closed his tear-filled eyes as he burried himself under the sheets and pulled his legs closer to his chest, muttering an apology under his breath as his sobs found a way out and felt something trickling over his arms

"Seungmin is not here" jisung said to Felix

"Wait what?"

"I said, seungmin is not here"jisung repeated "we searched everywhere,the basement,the attic,incide the wardrobes, even under the beds,he just disappeared"

"Oh god what did I do?" Chan started to panic "what if something bad happened to him"

"Chan calm down,I think I know where he is now" Changbin placed a hand on his shoulder 

"Then go you two"Felix yelled at them "he left in the first place because of you"

"I know and I feel horrible okay?"Chan replied but jisung stopped him and pushed him outside the house

"Less explaining more searching now go go go" jisung shoved both Changbin and chan outside the house and it went silent for few minutes 

"I can't believe it actually happened"Felix commented

"I can't believe it went that smooth"jisung added

"And I can't believe you two went that far to drag me out to talk" seungmin said from behind "and now excuse me I'm leaving" seungmin wanted to run but Felix and jisung tackled him and fell on the ground

"You're not leaving anywhere"jisung held him tightly"this was not the deal"

"What do you exactly want from me"seungmin tried to break free

"To talk things out"Felix answered him

"There's nothing to talk about"

"What are you saying?"jisung looked at him in the eye "everything that happened and there's nothing to talk about?"

"Yeah there's nothing, it's the usual problems over and over again"

"You can vent out you know"Felix said to him as if it was the most abovios thing

"As of you would understand"

"Stop acting like a baby"

"I'm not acting like a baby"

"You surely aren't"jisung said sarcastically and the small fight stopped when jeongin got down the stairs in a rush

"Guys I need the spare key"jeongin said urgently

"Why do you need that"both jisung and Felix looked up

"It's hyunjin"jeongin answered as he looked frantically for the keys "I have a horrible feeling,that he's having an episode"

"And why you think that?"seungmin asked him

"He didn't respond when I tried to call him many times so I borrowed his senses for a moment and......" jeongin gulped "and I saw red"

The trio looked at each other with worry and dashed upstairs to bang on hyunjin's door, begging him to open

"There's no use"jisung panted "seungmin break the door"

"Are you an idiot?that thing doesn't break"

"I'll go try something" Felix said as he ran away "you keep trying here"

"What are you planning to do?" Jeongin asked him 

"Fly and barge through the window"Felix answered him and headed outside the house and stood up under hyunjin's window

he stretched his arms and feathers formed on top of them, transforming them to wings,and then with one swing of his arms he reached the window, which luckily was open, barged in and unlocked the door

The three dashed in the room and went to the lump sleeping on hyunjin's bed, jeongin took off the blanket and he saw..........red

Hyunjin was sleeping peacefully, unknowing of the blood that was flowing out of his arms, leaving red stains all over the bed

"I'll go bring the first aid"jisung ran to his room as the other three were panicking

"Guys I think this is bad"Felix looked at seungmin

"No shit Sherlock" 

"This is not the time for sarcasm" Felix hit Seungmin's shoulder "we have a dying case right now"

"Stop being dramatic it's not the best time to do it"seungmin shook Felix's shoulders to knock him back to his senses and yelled "jisung stop taking your time,where are you?"

"I came I came" jisung yelled back as he entered but he tripped and fell down

"You guys are really noisy" the three turned and saw hyunjin sitting on his bed, rubbing his eyes and smudging his face with blood in the process "and how did you get in in the first place?"

"Hyunjin"jeongin shrieked as he jumped to his lap to hug him

After this dramatic scene all of them sat on the floor of the room

"And I thought I was a drama queen- ow ow ow jisung it's painful" 

"Shut up"jisung replied to hyunjin as he tightened the bandage wrap around his arms "you scared us halfway to death"

"Well he was halfway to death" seungmin added

"Stop it seungmin,these jokes are not funny" jeongin lazily replied as he layed on hyunjin's lap

"Why did you panic though? The last thing I would die because of is blood loss"hyunjin caressed jeongin's hair strands

"Don't talk to us,tell jeongin" jisung finished and let go of his hand

"I thought you were having an episode"jeongin mumbled as he sat

"Don't worry innie I'm fine,I just dosed off"hyunjin stayed silent for a moment "where's kkami?"

"Your plushie?"it's surprisingly not stained" Felix handed hyunjin the dog plush

"Can't say the same about everything else though"seungmin pointed his bed,which was stained in blood, hyunjin looked at it and his expressions dropped

"I think Chan hyung might be right"hyunjin mumbled

"Don't worry, everything will be sparkling clean in no time" Felix tried to cheer him up but to no avail

"No......just think about it" hyunjin hugged his plush "I can't even control my own blood,let alone my urge to fight"

"Don't say that"Felix grabbed both seungmin and hyunjin into a hug "you two are the strongest people that I know"

"Lix" seungmin looked at him and hyunjin gave him a sad smile and sighed

"It's okay lixie"hyunjin ruffled his hair "we'll just step away until everything is resolved,it's not like it'll be sunshine and rainbows from the start"

"KIM SEUNGMIN"Chan from outside the room "do you have any idea how much you worried me?"

"This guy almost cried"Changbin commented 

"Shut up Changbin"

"So"jisung folded his arms "do you have something to say"

"Yeah right"Chan sighed as he looked down then raised his head "I'm sorry, I said things I wasn't supposed to say"

"Sorry for being inconsiderate"Changbin scratched his head

"Yeah figured that out"seungmin commented "we're at fault too, being too sensitive"

"But that still doesn't change the fact that what we said back then was harmful"

"It's okay،Let's just forget everything and not repeat it again"hyunjin said to them with a smile

"I have a good idea"Felix suggested "let's hug things out"

Chan and Changbin stood in their places awkwardly, so jeongin and jisung had to pull them in and the seven piled in a hug as they laughed

"You know"Chan said with a smile "let's not complicate things, whatever happens happens"

"I'm okay with that" hyunjin said and everyone agreed, the sat and talked for few minutes before everyone went to his room but with jisung sleeping in the living room

Chan's and seungmin's room were quiet then Chan spoke

"Hey seungminni,are you asleep?"

"What?"

"I'm sorry"

"Again?I said I forgive you"

"But I should've been better as a leader"

"Don't worry Chan, you're really good we don't deserve you, thanks to you we're here"seungmin yawned and closed his eyes "let's sleep,I need to attend classes tomorrow 

Meanwhile in hyunjin's and Jeongin's room, hyunjin was sleeping when he felt a pair of arms surrounding him

"inne what are you doing?"

"Comforting you"

Hyunjin stayed silent for a moment then closed his eyes

"Thank you"

It's been six days and Minho hasn't woken up, during this time Changbin and jisung were taking turns in looking after him,from changing bandages to wiping sweat

"So how's he today?" Seungmin asked Changbin as he entered the room

"Still unconscious,he also almost threw up when I tried to feed him,which is good since it means that his reflexes is going back to normal" Changbin said as he put the bag of supplies on the desk and jumped on his bed "tell hyunjin I used one of his new syringes"

"Aren't those syringes used for feeding kittens?"

"Well I can't give him big amounts of food and solid is not an option so these are a great solution"

"Then good luck dealing with him"

"By the way what are you doing in my room?"Changbin looked at him with annoyance

"The WiFi here is stronger than the other places in the house,plus Felix's bed is more comfortable"

"Get out,I want to sleep"

"Why are you so salty today? It's only the two of us in the house"

"I'm always salty,now leave"

"But you're more salty than usual,did something happen?"

"It's because I didn't sleep in two days, don't bother me until everybody arrives,and don't go to minho"

"Why's that?"

"Just in case"

"In case of what? I got berserk?"

"Nobody is allowed inside without supervision except for jisung since it's his room,it's not about you only"

"I'll go sit outside"seungmin stood up and left the room,stopping the conversation from going further

"I'm warning you"

"Okay okay" seungmin closed the door and went to jisung's room, obviously ignoring Changbin's warnings,he opened the door and took a seat beside the bed Minho was sleeping at,it was the first time he was able to see him clearly since it was dark and he was disheveled in the first time

Minho's face was still thin but it restored some color,his expressions became relaxed a little but discomfort was still shown on his face, seungmin stared at the sleeping male with blank expressions as he wrapped himself with the blanket since he felt cold

Seungmin fiddled with the bandages wrapped around Minho's neck, because of that the bandages got loosened a little and slightly revealed the end of the serial number tattooed on the back of his neck

Seungmin's thumb brushed through the last digit and sighed as he recognised the bad quality ink

"It's been more than five years for you,right?"seungmin said in a whisper as he removed his hand and wrapped the blanket more around himself,not expecting Minho to answer

"Sometimes I ask myself,is everything happening because we're not humans,or because we were born in the wrong situations"seungmin asked as he was starting to feel sleepy

"Maybe if we were humans,we could've lived more normally,not being taken advantage of us or our specialties,or being tortured for others joy"seungmin said as he clutched his own bicep"but dreams would still be dreams, and what's done is done"

After fifteen minutes of silence Seungmin stood up to leave the room as he felt extremely sleepy and was afraid his instincts would take advantage of him

"See you later, maybe when you wake up" seungmin closed the door and walked to the living room, he stumbled on his way downstairs and fell on the sofa as he arrived there

"Huh? That's weird,why am I.............this............tired?" Seungmin asked himself as darkness surrounded him and started to feel lighter,he tried to pull himself to a sitting position but his hands betrayed him

"N-No way................a........a spell?" He widened his eyes with the realisation before his eyes closed and surrendered to the land of dreams

"Wake up" seungmin heard a voice in the darkness as a hard hand grabbed him harshly

"N-No,S-stop"seungmin said in a weak voice as he tried to push the hand away

"Didn't you hear me you stupid dog?,I said Wake up,or do you want another punishment?" the voice started to get angrier and the hands grabbing him became harsher as it reached to his neck

"P-please don't" seungmin was shaking at this point as he curled into a ball and tried to hide his head in his arms

"I'M DONE WITH YOU,TAKE HIM TO THE ROOM"the voice exploded in anger and the hands became stronger and felt as it was choking him

"Stop" seungmin yelled as he jolted awake and grabbed the hand that was holding him as he breathed rapidly,after few seconds he blinked few times and recognised the hand owner

"F-Felix?" He looked at him as Felix showed expressions of surprise and looked around "I'm-I'm still home?"

"You never left in the first place"Felix answered him as he loosened Seungmin's grip on his hand "what happened? you've been shaking and crying in your sleep for the last five minutes"

"Hmm?" Seungmin touched his cheek and felt a stream of water and wiped it"weird,why didn't you wake me up?"

"I've been trying but you didn't respond,what did you dream to react like this?"

"I......"he paused for a moment "I don't remember"

"Really?that looked really scary though"Felix then sat beside seungmin and leaned closer to him "but maybe it's good that you can't remember"

"What are you doing?"seungmin moved back

"I'm trying to give you a hug,to feel a bit easier"

"Do I look like I need one?"

"Yes you do"

"No I'm not"seungmin said as struggled to push him away "and stop touching me"

"I can't help it"Felix hugged seungmin and wrapped his legs around him like a koala "you're just so soft and fluffy"

"Pull away you cuddle bug"seungmin to move him away but Felix snuggled more into his neck

"Soft.....and.......fluffy"Felix said softly as he tightened the hug, seungmin couldn't help but sigh in defeat as the layed down on the sofa and hugged him back

"Did Changbin"Felix yawned "........did Changbin allow you to go inside jisung's room?"

"How did you-"

"ivy and.......... and lavender"Felix answered him and started speaking weirdly"jisung's.......potion.......sleep"

Seungmin stayed silent for a moment when he realised why he fell asleep a while ago and why he fell asleep"Don't tell Changbin"

Felix giggled and closed his eyes as he started to sleep"I won't"

Seungmin then closed his eyes and slept again,this time he felt safer in Felix's arms as the both cuddled in their sleep 

Unfortunately the peaceful sleep ended after an hour or so when two noisy boys came barging in the house while complaining about their day

"Vet school is living nightmare"hyunjin yelled at the top of his lungs as he busted the door open "I swear to god if I had to shove my hand into something I'm not supposed to even touch again I will scream"

"Look at you,acting as if it's the end of the world"jisung replied as he entered after him "aren't you supposed to be used to it by now?"

"Hell no,today was my first time"hyunjin yelled dramatically and held jisungs face "I put those hands in a cow's mouth, A COW'S MOUTH,and do you know what's worse,IM DOING IT FOR ANOTHER THREE MONTHS"

"You did wash them before touching me didn't you?"

"For at least ten times,the problem is today was supposed to be the easy day"

"Well we told you not to take anything livestock related but no, because 'how hard can it possibly be?'" jisung mocked him

"Please shut up, pharmacy is ten times easier than this"hyunjin took off his jacket and untied his hair as he went to the kitchen

"Yeah because it's really fun to analyse the feces looking for parasite eggs" jisung opened a bottle of water and drank it in one gulp "let alone bugs and plant samples"

"What kind of disgusting stuff are these two talking about?" Felix groggily asked as he opened his eyes and looked up to see that Chan was taking. Photos of them while sleeping

"Hey lixie,how was your nap?"Chan asked him with a smile

"Mmmmfine"Felix answered sluggishly as he tried to sit but seungmin pulled him back with a little whine

"That's rare,you never see seungmin this clingy"

"I think it's just because sleeping,he won't remember anything after he wakes up

"I have my phone as a proof" Chan waved his phone and sat on the other couch in the room "jeongin really takes his time today"

"He said he has additional classes or something?he might go back after an hour or so"

"Be quieeeeet,I want to sleep more" seungmin said to him 

"Okay okay"Felix apologized and patted his head

"Anyways, I'll go eat something,and maybe cook dinner?I'm planning to do something with so much preperation" Chan stood and headed to the kitchen

"Goodbye"Felix waved at him and turned to seungmin "hey seungminni,wake up, it's already 3pm"

"Noooo, I want to sleep more"

"C'mon open your eyes, you've slept enough"

"Can't we wait until dinner?"

Before Felix could say anything jisung came out of the kitchen yelling as he climbed up the stairs

"Seo Changbin if I see you in my room today I'll choke you"

"There's a lot of anger in the house today"seungmin commented as he closed his eyes again"wake me up when the dinner is ready"

Jisung entered his room to find nobody is inside except for Minho who was still asleep,he sighed as he closed the door and sat on his desk, revising what he took today even though he didn't like it

After an hour or so, jisung started to hear Minho's breaths became heavy and shaky, jisung went to him to sense his forehead and frowned when he didn't feel much of a heat so he went to Changbin for help

"Trouble in breathing you say?"Changbin asked as he leaned on his doorstep and jisung nodded

"His temperature is not that high though,so I don't know if it's an infection"

Changbin hummed and tapped his chin and grabbed his bag,to check up on him "I think we need to recheck the bandages,the wounds might be infected"

Changbin enterted the room and started checking on Minho,he checked his pulse, breathing and many other things and frowned as he turned to jisung

"You know the routine right?"Changbin asked him

"Of treating wounds?yes I do" 

"And what about giving shots?"

"Seriously hyung?I gave you a shot not long time ago"

"Okay then" Changbin gave him his bag and first aid kit "treat him untill I go back,I need to get the nebuliser,also there's a blue vial in the bag,give it to him"

"The nebu what?"jisung looked at him in confusion as he left

"The thing I used when Felix got sick"

"Oh that thing"jisung turned to minho as Changbin left the room and took a deep breath as he took Minho's hand to treat it

He tried to remove the gauze gently but the dried up blood made the gauze stick to his wrist like glue so jisung poured some water to loosen up before pulling it

Minho scrunched his face and groaned in pain as jisung removed the bandage but he couldn't stop

"I'm sorry"he apologized as he pulled the bandages as fast as he could, which made Minho almost scream

Jisung didn't know what to first when he looked at the wound, saying it was bad was an understatement, because of the shackles the tissues were damaged to a deep level and pus was coming,the skin around was swollen and irritated and jisung almost swore he was able to see the flesh

"Ugh Changbin where are you?"jisung scratched his head in frustration as he wiped the pus as gently as he could and poured more water on the wound, after few minutes of wiping and cleaning he dabbed the area with antiseptic and applied his potion on the wound before wrapping the gauze around it and moving to the next hand

He finished with the hands and waited for Changbin to comeback because he didn't have courage to look at his feet knowing it's far more worse than his hands,so he took one of the vials Changbin told him about,broke it and filled the serynge with it

He tapped on the serynge few times to remove the air bubbles and gave it to Minho in the muscles and pulled back with a huff

"He's surely taking his time"jisung mumbled as he stared at the door when Changbin came in with many stuff

"Took you long enough"jisung looked at him

"I know,I was preparing the dose"Changbin basically ignored him as he placed the nebuliser on the table and injected the dose inside it,he then plugged it and placed the mask on Minho's mouth

"That should stabilise his breathing" Changbin stood up and dusted his hands

"Uhhh..... Changbin?"jisung hesitantly asked him

"What?"

"Could you treat the wounds on his feet? I'm scared to even look at it"

"I would love that,but you said to stay out of your room"Changbin smirked as he left the room and waved at him"buh bye,good luck buddy"

"You annoying bastart"jisung yelled and threw his book Changbin who laughed on his way out and turned to Minho as his expressions turned soft

"Alright let's do what we should do, sorry in advance if it was painful, please don't kick me" jisung grabbed the tools and started to cut the gauze

As expected,it was much worse with blisters all around his feet and , jisung lost count how many times he thanked god that he wasn't there when Minho arrived because he couldn't imagine how bad it was,as he was wrapping bandages for he stopped midway when he noticed holes in his ankle joint

"Are those......nail holes?"jisung tried to look closer but he backed when Minho's foot flinched so he wrapped it after adding more anticeptic and stood up

"Okie now,back to studying" he pulled his chair and sat in front of the desk to continue what he stopped doing half an hour ago, although the sound of the nebuliser was a bit annoying and jisung had to make sure that he had to check that the breathing mask was fixed on his mouth and nose he managed to organise a good amount of his lectures

"Hi hanni" Chan peaked from from the door "you locked yourself inside for two hours now"

"That long?"

"Were you really engrossed in studying?I thought you hated it"Chan leaned on the desk "also how are you doing? You're not affect by the sleep dust aren't you?"

"I had no other choice but finish everything"jisung stretched "and no, it's my potion I can't get affected by it"

"Okay then get downstairs, dinner is ready"Chan said to him as he closed the door

"In a minute"jisung stretched and tidied his desk then went to Minho to check on him and remove the gas mask since the dose was over

Jisung then closed the door and slid down the stairs, falling on jeongin in process

"Hey there innie, didn't see you there,nice catching by the way"

"Falling on me,doesn't count as catching hyung,stand up you're squashing me"jeongin said as he hit him constantly

"Oh right I forgot"jisung stood up and helped jeongin "so how was additional classes"

"Horrible"

"As usual"jisung chuckled as jeongin hit his arm and both went to dinner table

"And let me tell you, seungmin was really snuggly and refused to let me go"Felix said as he swallowed his food "he even whined like a little puppy"

"Stop making things up"

"I'm not making things up, Chan hyung can confirm it"

"Chan hyung?"seungmin looked at him in disbelief and the guy almost choked

"Don't look at me like that seungmin"

"What do you have on your phone?"

"Uhhh,stuff?"

"Show me"

"C'mon seungmin just let go"hyunjin commented from the other side of the table

"Shut up hyunjin"

"You're not gonna eat?"jisung asked him

"I don't have the appetite"

"Hwang Hyunjin,not having the appetite?in which world we're living?" Changbin mocked and received flying food from hyunjin

"Experience what I did today and then talk to me" hyunjin point his fork at him

"Chill dude"jisung lowered hyunjin's fork "what will happen to you when you go to the other side?"

"Can you not talk about this stuff at the table?some people are trying to eat here"jeongin said to them and everyone laughed, after dinner Chan gathered them all in the living room to discuss

"Alright everyone,time to talk about the thing we've been avoiding since the beginning of the week"

"Who's going to clean the bathroom after we shower this weekend"jisung raised his hand

"Hell no jisung" hyunjin yelled at him "this subject is postponed until after tomorrow"

"Focus you two"Changbin folded his legs and pointed up "we're talking about the sleeping beauty upstairs"

"Anyways"Chan started talking "appearently the chances of our search being over has risen to 90% now,since it was confirmed that Minho is not a human"

"So so he's staying with us?"jeongin asked

"Most likely yes"hyunjin shrugged "it depends on him after all"

"We also need to know if he's 'the one' " seungmin quoted "we also need him to wake up first

"That's why we're gathered now"Chan clapped and got into the topic "since there's a high chance he'll be defensive,I made a few rules"

"Another set of rules?"Felix complained

"Come on Felix,It's not like we listen to them anyways" hyunjin said to Felix

"He's kinda right"seungmin commented

"Why don't we shut up and listen?"jisung suggested

"Okay then,Rule number one,no sudden affection and no hugs out of nowhere, Felix I'm talking to you" Chan pointed and Felix whined

"But hugs make people feel more welcomed"

"Not in his state,even touching can startle him" Changbin said to Felix

"Thank you for explaining, and legs off the table"

"No problem" he folded his arms and lowered his legs "so rule number two?"

"No wild spells around, this is actually a normal rule but since you guys ignore it all the time I have to say it again to avoid conflict for at least a week until we sort things out"

"That's manageable"jisung straightened his sitting pose "is there anything else?"

"One Last rule,If you can't control your instincts,stay away"

"Isn't that a bit extreme?"hyunjin argued "you're talking as we're animals that can't control their hunger"

"No I don't mean it like that"

"What do you mean then?"seungmin frowned

"You know"Chan started to get nervous "if he started to get aggressive, it's better to stay away to not trigger your fighting instincts"

"Well that was a better explanation, thank you"hyunjin sarcastically replied to him

"Would you two stop"Changbin yelled at both seungmin and hyunjin "or do you want me to tell you the REAL reason we have this rule"

"That was eight years ago" seungmin argued

"But we can't take risks,and the work of a lifetime won't be wasted because SOME IDIOTS who have low self control"Chan raised his voice,and after few minutes of high tension,he realised his mistake

"I'll leave to my room"hyunjin quietly said as he ran out of the room but Chan held his hand

"Hyunjin wait-"

"Let go of me"hyunjin pulled away as his eyes turned completely black with irises as white as snow and ran to his room

Chan wanted to follow him but decided not to so he slumped on the sofa and sighed when noticed that seungmin left too

"We messed up"Changbin closed his eyes and laid his head back

"Correction,YOU Messed up" Felix pointed at the older two

"I'll go check on hyunjin" jeongin got up to go to his and hyunjin's shared room and knocked the door

"Go away"hyunjin said to him from inside,he was sitting in his bed with a wooden box near him, hugging a worn out dog plush

"Hyunjin it's me jeongin,open the door"

"Leave innie, I want to be alone"

"Hyunjin please open the door and talk to me" 

"Innie please,I don't want to see anyone right now"

"You know they didn't mean it,it was just a general rule and I know that-"jeongin couldn't complete his words when hyunjin cut him

"JEONGIN I TOLD TO LEAVE ME ALONE"

jeongin didn't know what to do so he sat in front of the door "just.........don't hurt yourself......okay?"

Hyunjin didn't respond to that,he just hugged the plush tighter and closed his tear-filled eyes as he burried himself under the sheets and pulled his legs closer to his chest, muttering an apology under his breath as his sobs found a way out and felt something trickling over his arms

"Seungmin is not here" jisung said to Felix

"Wait what?"

"I said, seungmin is not here"jisung repeated "we searched everywhere,the basement,the attic,incide the wardrobes, even under the beds,he just disappeared"

"Oh god what did I do?" Chan started to panic "what if something bad happened to him"

"Chan calm down,I think I know where he is now" Changbin placed a hand on his shoulder 

"Then go you two"Felix yelled at them "he left in the first place because of you"

"I know and I feel horrible okay?"Chan replied but jisung stopped him and pushed him outside the house

"Less explaining more searching now go go go" jisung shoved both Changbin and chan outside the house and it went silent for few minutes 

"I can't believe it actually happened"Felix commented

"I can't believe it went that smooth"jisung added

"And I can't believe you two went that far to drag me out to talk" seungmin said from behind "and now excuse me I'm leaving" seungmin wanted to run but Felix and jisung tackled him and fell on the ground

"You're not leaving anywhere"jisung held him tightly"this was not the deal"

"What do you exactly want from me"seungmin tried to break free

"To talk things out"Felix answered him

"There's nothing to talk about"

"What are you saying?"jisung looked at him in the eye "everything that happened and there's nothing to talk about?"

"Yeah there's nothing, it's the usual problems over and over again"

"You can vent out you know"Felix said to him as if it was the most abovios thing

"As of you would understand"

"Stop acting like a baby"

"I'm not acting like a baby"

"You surely aren't"jisung said sarcastically and the small fight stopped when jeongin got down the stairs in a rush

"Guys I need the spare key"jeongin said urgently

"Why do you need that"both jisung and Felix looked up

"It's hyunjin"jeongin answered as he looked frantically for the keys "I have a horrible feeling,that he's having an episode"

"And why you think that?"seungmin asked him

"He didn't respond when I tried to call him many times so I borrowed his senses for a moment and......" jeongin gulped "and I saw red"

The trio looked at each other with worry and dashed upstairs to bang on hyunjin's door, begging him to open

"There's no use"jisung panted "seungmin break the door"

"Are you an idiot?that thing doesn't break"

"I'll go try something" Felix said as he ran away "you keep trying here"

"What are you planning to do?" Jeongin asked him 

"Fly and barge through the window"Felix answered him and headed outside the house and stood up under hyunjin's window

he stretched his arms and feathers formed on top of them, transforming them to wings,and then with one swing of his arms he reached the window, which luckily was open, barged in and unlocked the door

The three dashed in the room and went to the lump sleeping on hyunjin's bed, jeongin took off the blanket and he saw..........red

Hyunjin was sleeping peacefully, unknowing of the blood that was flowing out of his arms, leaving red stains all over the bed

"I'll go bring the first aid"jisung ran to his room as the other three were panicking

"Guys I think this is bad"Felix looked at seungmin

"No shit Sherlock" 

"This is not the time for sarcasm" Felix hit Seungmin's shoulder "we have a dying case right now"

"Stop being dramatic it's not the best time to do it"seungmin shook Felix's shoulders to knock him back to his senses and yelled "jisung stop taking your time,where are you?"

"I came I came" jisung yelled back as he entered but he tripped and fell down

"You guys are really noisy" the three turned and saw hyunjin sitting on his bed, rubbing his eyes and smudging his face with blood in the process "and how did you get in in the first place?"

"Hyunjin"jeongin shrieked as he jumped to his lap to hug him

After this dramatic scene all of them sat on the floor of the room

"And I thought I was a drama queen- ow ow ow jisung it's painful" 

"Shut up"jisung replied to hyunjin as he tightened the bandage wrap around his arms "you scared us halfway to death"

"Well he was halfway to death" seungmin added

"Stop it seungmin,these jokes are not funny" jeongin lazily replied as he layed on hyunjin's lap

"Why did you panic though? The last thing I would die because of is blood loss"hyunjin caressed jeongin's hair strands

"Don't talk to us,tell jeongin" jisung finished and let go of his hand

"I thought you were having an episode"jeongin mumbled as he sat

"Don't worry innie I'm fine,I just dosed off"hyunjin stayed silent for a moment "where's kkami?"

"Your plushie?"it's surprisingly not stained" Felix handed hyunjin the dog plush

"Can't say the same about everything else though"seungmin pointed his bed,which was stained in blood, hyunjin looked at it and his expressions dropped

"I think Chan hyung might be right"hyunjin mumbled

"Don't worry, everything will be sparkling clean in no time" Felix tried to cheer him up but to no avail

"No......just think about it" hyunjin hugged his plush "I can't even control my own blood,let alone my urge to fight"

"Don't say that"Felix grabbed both seungmin and hyunjin into a hug "you two are the strongest people that I know"

"Lix" seungmin looked at him and hyunjin gave him a sad smile and sighed

"It's okay lixie"hyunjin ruffled his hair "we'll just step away until everything is resolved,it's not like it'll be sunshine and rainbows from the start"

"KIM SEUNGMIN"Chan from outside the room "do you have any idea how much you worried me?"

"This guy almost cried"Changbin commented 

"Shut up Changbin"

"So"jisung folded his arms "do you have something to say"

"Yeah right"Chan sighed as he looked down then raised his head "I'm sorry, I said things I wasn't supposed to say"

"Sorry for being inconsiderate"Changbin scratched his head

"Yeah figured that out"seungmin commented "we're at fault too, being too sensitive"

"But that still doesn't change the fact that what we said back then was harmful"

"It's okay،Let's just forget everything and not repeat it again"hyunjin said to them with a smile

"I have a good idea"Felix suggested "let's hug things out"

Chan and Changbin stood in their places awkwardly, so jeongin and jisung had to pull them in and the seven piled in a hug as they laughed

"You know"Chan said with a smile "let's not complicate things, whatever happens happens"

"I'm okay with that" hyunjin said and everyone agreed, the sat and talked for few minutes before everyone went to his room but with jisung sleeping in the living room

Chan's and seungmin's room were quiet then Chan spoke

"Hey seungminni,are you asleep?"

"What?"

"I'm sorry"

"Again?I said I forgive you"

"But I should've been better as a leader"

"Don't worry Chan, you're really good we don't deserve you, thanks to you we're here"seungmin yawned and closed his eyes "let's sleep,I need to attend classes tomorrow 

Meanwhile in hyunjin's and Jeongin's room, hyunjin was sleeping when he felt a pair of arms surrounding him

"inne what are you doing?"

"Comforting you"

Hyunjin stayed silent for a moment then closed his eyes

"Thank you"


End file.
